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Licensing eNews

November 2014

Top Ten Tips about TENS

With only 5 weeks to go until Christmas businesses may be contemplating organising temporary events to take advantage of the holiday spirit. However with all the mulled wine and champagne that will be flowing it is crucial that a Temporary Event Notice (TEN) is completed.

Only an individual can complete a TEN. A business must therefore nominate an individual;

The event capacity must be less than 500 people (including staff and performers);The event duration must not exceed 168 hours;

A fundamental condition for Premises selling alcohol is to appoint a Designated Premises Supervisor. All Designated Premises Supervisors are required to hold an up-to-date Personal Alcohol Licence.

Currently Personal Licences must be renewed every 10 years at a cost of £37. In addition applications must be made 3 months prior to the expiration date.

Following a consultation into Personal Alcohol Licences the Government confirmed that its proposal to abolish the requirement to renew Personal Licences every ten years will be implemented via the Deregulation Bill. The Bill is currently before Parliament and is expected to come into force early 2015.

This change will come as a relief to Licence Holders.

For now, however, Licence holders must continue to apply to renew their licences. Licence holders must also update their licence following a change in address.

Lapsed Premises Licences

Looking at buying a business with a premises licence? Did you know that licences lapse if a company becomes insolvent?

To avoid prosecution and financial consequences make sure that you or your solicitor check the status of previous owners of the business. There is only a 28 day window for a transfer to resurrect a lapsed licence following insolvency.

In addition be aware that an impending review of a licence can still go ahead following a transfer. It is therefore imperative to investigate the current licence prior to transfer to avoid any nasty surprises later on.

For further information in relation to any of these articles please contact: